Cross compile world on i386 to x86_64

[Mike Meyer]

In <20061202171318.GA32377 at rambler-co.ru>, Ruslan Ermilov <ru at freebsd.org> typed:
> On Sat, Dec 02, 2006 at 12:10:22PM -0500, Mike Meyer wrote:
> > In <20061202170124.GD31897 at rambler-co.ru>, Ruslan Ermilov <ru at freebsd.org> typed:
> > > On Sat, Dec 02, 2006 at 06:57:32PM +0530, Joseph Koshy wrote:
> > > > >Can I avoid reinstalling the system with amd64 binaries by
> > > > >cross-compiling world and kernel for amd64 on the installed
> > > > >i386 FreeBSD-CURRENT?
> > > > 
> > > > Yes, it is possible, do check the archives for the details.
> > > > 
> > > We've been doing this "upgrade" last week;
> > > compared to the last time I checked it, the
> > > 32-bit compatibility only improved, so the
> > > whole process was much simpler, and basically
> > > was like this:
> > 
> > I went through it a month or so ago. I'll add one bit of advice:
> > 
> > Drop in a spare disk and dual boot during the transition. My system
> > disk was mirrored, and I turned that off and set up one of the two as
> > amd64 during the transition, then turned the mirror back on when it
> > was done.
> > 
> > That also makes the cross-compile installation process easier, as you
> > can mount the second disk on your i386 system and just just install to
> > it.
> > 
> That's not sexy; with two disks you can install amd64 bits
> on a spare disk under i386 without problems, boot from the
> new disk, and so on, but this would not be called the
> "in-place upgrade from i386 to amd64" then.  ;)

Yup, not sexy at all. There's almost no danger of leaving your system
unbootable, and being able to trivially back it out if you decide to
for some reason (like a critical application not working on amd64) is
like wearing suspenders and a belt.

I admit, I probably wouldn't have done that if I didn't have a
mirrored system disk, but since I could do it without actually
touching the hardware...

	<mike
-- 
Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>		http://www.mired.org/consulting.html
Independent Network/Unix/Perforce consultant, email for more information.